Medical Weight Loss News

For decades we have been told that in order to lose weight we have to eat breakfast every day. But new scientific research casts doubt on this myth. Where did this recommendation come from? One source may be from the National Weight Control Registry. This is a registry of individuals who have successfully lost over […]

The numbers, so commonly cited, remain staggering. Obesity affects more than one in three American adults, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It is also often associated with 236 comorbidities, such as diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease and 13 different cancers. Yet physicians and other health professionals are too often hesitant to have open discussions about obesity with patients. [Read more]

Carrying extra weight is always dangerous to your health, even if the amount of excess weight is small. When an individual gains enough weight to be considered obese, the problem becomes even more serious. Unfortunately, this condition is much more widespread than many people realize. In fact, according to data published by the Centers for Disease Control, more than one-third of all adults living in the United States are currently obese. [Read more]

I am thrilled that on June 11th, 2014, the American Medical Association (AMA) adopted policy advocating for patient access to obesity treatment services including behavioral, pharmaceutical, nutritional and surgical interventions. This policy comes one year after the AMA recognized obesity as a “disease requiring a range of medical interventions to advance obesity treatment and prevention,” a decision I was thrilled to play a pivotal role in. [Read more]

For many years I have told my patients that obesity is not a problem of eating too much and exercising too little, in spite of this common stereotype that has been propagated everywhere from the lay press to physician beliefs. We have had good science to support that in fact obesity should be considered a disease and not simply a result of conscious behaviors dating back to the discovery of leptin, a hormone that fat cells make which governs appetite regulation, back in 1994. In 1998 our National Institute of Health recognized obesity as a disease. And today the American Medical Association adopted new policy recognizing obesity as a disease. [Read more]